Malmark Bellcraftsmen is one of the few makers of the handbells used by church and community bell choirs. They are located in Plumsteadville, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. One of our friends in the western end of the state plays in their church'e bell choir. Periodically some minor maintenance needs to be done on such bells, so they arranged to transport the bells themselves and spend a little time in the area. It turns out the company now offers a tour through their facility, complementary to customers, open to the public for a small fee. So we met our friends there and toured this rather fascinating operation.

This is the perfect work for someone who is both a machinist and a musician! The actual casting of the bells is done elsewhere under contract, but the machining, tuning and assemblt is all done here. There is a great deal of trimming to get to the final product, so the scrap turnings are carefully cleaned up and recycled. Most of the regular bells are made from bronze, a copper and tin alloy which is relatively expensive. Some extra large bells are produced from a special aluminum alloy which offers lighter weight for the folks trying to ring them.

The tour also got us a discount coupon for the Plumsteadville Inn just up the road. We took advantage of that for a tasty lunch.